I caught Christopher Titus's show at Tommy T's in Pleasanton, California on December 8th 2011. I thought a Thursday night would be roomy and quiet - boy, was I wrong! The place started filling up early, and continued steadily until there was hardly a seat left open by showtime.

Rachel Bradley (known as "Bombshell Rae" to fans of the Titus podcast) opened the show with material including the Olson twins and GHB. But her best stuff revolved around her parents: her father was a Marine and veteran of the Vietnam war, and her mother was a hippie. The disparity between the two allowed Bradley to explore the two extremes and then use the contrasts to full effect.

Bradley was smooth, relaxed, confident and funny. After her twenty minute set, she brought on our headliner: Christopher Titus.

Titus emerged onto the stage with the clip-on mike and energetic manner which have become his performances' trademarks. He wasted absolutely no time in kicking the banking industry in the nuts. As a matter of fact, he seemed to know  ahead of time that a handful of banks were holding their office Christmas parties at this very event, and fell upon them like a vampire on a menstruating hemophiliac. He did this with such a gleeful and rabid intensity that I started to worry that it would get too heavy. He veered off of the ambush just in time; while I'm sure that a few managers had begun to squirm, he veered off before an audience-wide discomfort set in. Funny, brash and unapologetic.

He then pointed out a troubling trend where "politicians are jokes, and comedians are taken seriously," describing how several comics lately had been skewered in the court of public opinion and forced to apologize publicly. He used as examples Tracey Morgan's comments on gays, as well as his own comments about Sarah Palin. Titus made his points and made them funny.

He then began the largest chunk of his set, which centered on his own 2012 Presidential candidacy.  His platform was a frame upon which he hung his ideas for what's wrong with this country, and what he would do to change it, "if elected."

He continued to cut a swath through political territory, taking pointed jabs at most of the Republican candidates, including Cain, Romney, Gingrich and Perry.

From there it was a natural progression to terrorism. He had material on Muslim terrorists, but he also did a surprisingly funny piece on Anders Breivik, the tall, blond shooter who bears a more-than-superficial resemblance to our headliner.

He wrapped up his "Presidential platform" by promising to revive shame in the public consciousness, in order to curb some of the more disturbing conduct prevalent in society today.  He also proposed a remedy for frivolous litigation: let's just say his idea of "dropping a digit" on unsuccessful lawyers defies the popular definition.

Christopher Titus closed his performance with an endearing, self-effacing story about meeting Bruce Springsteen that included plenty of fanboyishness at meeting the Boss, a smattering of revenge upon one of his harshest critics, and lots of entertaining face time for his "Inner Retard" character, which I love, and was gratified to see.

I enjoyed the hell out of his show. Titus was very likeable, his material was clever and approachable. Couple that with his rapid-fire pacing, and you've got an hour-plus that electrifies.  I've seen most or all of his specials, and something you only get in person is that magic of live performance, where the energy gets under your skin.  I found myself laughing big, ordering beer after beer, and giving myself over to the sensation that only live comedy delivers.  My anticipation for his show was well-founded, and at the end of the night I found myself inspired by the experience. I've been to many shows not just wanting a good laugh, but needing it.  This show paid off.

After the show, he sold merchandise at the door and made time for photos and chatter with every fan. I found Christopher Titus to be as nice a guy as he is reputed to be. I've got memories of a great night of comedy to prove it, and so did hundreds of fans in Pleasanton this December!